Recently,
in this space I pointed out a few of the many Biblical weaknesses of the
pre-tribulation “Rapture” doctrine, the elaborate approach to end times
made famous in the 1970s by Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth”
and more recently by the “Left Behind” fiction series.

Response
to the article was rather overwhelming and surprisingly ran about 85 percent
positive in favor of the article. Many of the writers were like me. They
had been raised in the pre-trib rapture doctrine, but no longer believed
it. As a result of the article, I shared emails with some truly delightful
people who agreed with my premise and some equally as delightful people
who disagreed with me, sometimes quite strongly.

The
purpose of this column is twofold. One, I want to explain why eschatology
is not just something to talk about, but actually matters; and two, I
need to correct a grievous error I made in the column I wrote in the rapture
column. Please allow me to do the latter first.

In the
article, while talking about Daniel’s Seventy Week Prophecy, I made the
statement that the Messiah would be cut off in the midst of the seventieth
week and that the prophet Daniel said that. The problem is: Daniel did
not say that. I infer that from the text, but it does not actually come
out and say that.

It was
a serious mistake on my part to attribute to Daniel something I merely
conclude from the text. I apologize to my readers. My mistake was an innocent
one, but because it concerned the text of scripture, an inexcusable one.
I relied on my faulty memory and should not have.

Before
I leave that subject, Daniel said it was to be 69 weeks “unto the Messiah
the Prince.” He then says: And after three score and two weeks shall
Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself. (Daniel 9:26) It is generally
believed that Jesus ministered for about three-and-a-half years and then
was crucified. The question is: When did Jesus become the Messiah, thus
marking the end of the 69th week? At the beginning of His ministry, or
when He was crucified?

I believe
Jesus became the Messiah the day He was baptized in the River Jordan by
John the Baptist. That is when John says he saw the Holy Spirit descended
upon Jesus and remain. The meaning of the word “Christ,” which is the
equivalent of the Hebrew term “Messiah,” is “the Spirit anointed One.
Jesus was anointed by the Spirit when He was baptized. He then ministered
for three plus years and was crucified, “but not for Himself.”

That’s
why I believe there were only three-and-a-half years left in the Seventy
Week prophecy as of the date Jesus was crucified, which is probably why
there is no mention of seven years in the Book of Revelation.

I could
write much more about this most famous of all Old Testament prophecies
and perhaps will some other time, but for now let’s get back to the subject
of why end time doctrines matter.

Eschatology
is probably not a heaven or hell doctrine. It is not up there with believing
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and believing that He was resurrected
from the dead, which are essential, basic doctrines of Christianity. However,
the Bible would not have so much to say about the subject, if it didn’t
matter. The truth is, eschatology can have a major impact on how a believer
lives in the here and now.

If you
believe the antichrist is going to take over the world some time soon,
you are not likely to have a very positive outlook on the future of the
world. You cannot reasonably believe that the influence of the gospel
will increase dramatically, because after all, according to your eschatology,
things have to get worse, not better. In fact, many adherents to the rapture
doctrine speak and act as if bad news is good news. For them, the worse
things get, the sooner the end will come.

Earthquakes
in various places. Wars and rumors of wars. Trouble in the Middle East.
That’s all good news to the rapture folks. To them, it means the end is
in sight. I heard one preacher, who liked President Bush, say that he
thought the rapture would probably occur sooner, if John Kerry won the
election, but implied that he was going to vote for Bush anyway.

I know
people who believe that it would be a waste of time to go to Bible College
or get the long term training required to be a doctor or a lawyer, because
there just isn’t time for such things because the rapture is so close.

People
who might otherwise pursue a vocation in the political arena, where they
might make a real difference in the way their state or even the entire
country goes, avoid that field because of their belief that the entire
world is all going to be taken over by the antichrist anyway, so why bother.

How
can such a perspective not lessen people’s ability to influence the world
around them or prevent them from being the salt and light they are supposed
to be in the world?

I realize
that there are rapture adherents out there fighting the good fight and
making a real difference in the world, but I know firsthand of others
who believe all such efforts are an exercise in futility and live their
lives accordingly.

I also
worry about the perpetuation of the notion that the Lord will not let
His people go through tribulation. Laying aside for a moment the debate
over whether there is even going to be a future Great Tribulation, there
is no promise in scripture that Christians will not be persecuted. In
fact, the opposite is true.

Those
who do not believe God would let His beloved go through the tribulation
must have forgotten about the horrific things that happened to Christians
in ancient Rome, or are not aware of the murder and torture of believers
in more modern times under Idi Amin in Uganda or the Communist dictators
in Red China. Are they not aware of what is happening to Christians in
the Sudan?

Perhaps
it would so some of us good to reread the second half of the 11th chapter
of the Book of Hebrews, where it describes the torture, persecution, and
death of believers who died in faith. Persecution and tribulation is part
of the package. We are to pray for our leaders so we hopefully can live
tranquil lives, but persecution is a promise to all Christians, as the
apostle wrote: Those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

The
bottom line is this: What one believes about the end times very much affects
one’s view of the world today. It affects people’s real life attitudes,
and for some even their vocational choices. It affects their politics.
It affects whether they see themselves in this fight for the long haul
or simply on their way out of here.

I confess
that I am still unsure about my own eschatology. To be honest, at this
stage I have more questions than I do answers, even though I have been
studying this subject for several decades. As a result of my recent article
on the rapture, I have been having a lot of interesting discussions with
people who hold eschatological views I wasn’t previously aware even existed.
The important thing to keep in mind is that eschatology should not be
a basis for division. It matters, but it is not a basis for parting company.

I will
close with this thought. I have taught my children to say The Lord’s Prayer
since they were very young. We even lifted the last words of that prayer
and made them a closing to other prayers, even mealtime prayers. When
we would close out a prayer regarding some matter, we would all say together
at the end, “And most of all, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth
as it is in Heaven.”

Jesus
taught us to pray those words. He taught us to ask our Father in Heaven
that His will be done on earth as His will is done in Heaven. In Heaven,
things are run quite differently than they are down here, so some changes
will have to occur if God is going to answer that prayer. And answer it
He will, when we have the faith to believe it and are not having faith
to believe the devil is going to take over.

When
I speak of God’s will being done on earth, I am not talking about a theocracy.
I am not talking about using the law or military might to make people
behave like Christians. That is neither possible, nor desirable. I am
talking about believing that the hearts of men can and will be changed
by the gospel on a wholesale level, thus making this world a different
and better place. More like heaven. That beats the daylights out of waiting
around for some antichrist to take over.

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I am
talking about changing the world as the early church did; those believers
about whom it was written that they turned the world upside down. To turn
the world upside down, though, some of us need to have our eschatology
turned right side up.

If it
turns out that the Lord returns before Christians change the course of
history, well so much the better, as long as He finds us doing His business,
not sitting around secretly cheering for bad things to happen so we can
all get raptured out of here.

Bill Sizemore is a registered Independent who
works as executive director of the Oregon Taxpayers Union, a statewide
taxpayer organization. Bill was the Republican candidate for governor
in 1998. He and his wife Cindy have four children, ages eight to thirteen,
and live on 36 acres in Beavercreek, just southeast of Oregon City, Oregon.

Bill Sizemore is considered one of the foremost experts on the initiative
process in the nation, having placed dozens of measures on the statewide
ballot. Bill was raised in the logging communities of the Olympic Peninsula
of Washington state, and moved to Portland in 1972. He is a graduate of
Portland Bible College, where he taught for two years. A regular contributing
writer to www.NewsWithViews.com.

If
the rapture is real and it occurs before I hear from you, I hope I am
not here to answer your email. But then on second thought, if in the end
it really is going to be as it was in the days of Noah, maybe I should
hope I will be here, because in the days of Noah, it was the bad guys
who were taken away, not the good ones.